Editorial integrity

Can anyone advise? A major US broadcaster has infringed my copyright by incorporating footage -- without my permission -- from a TV documentary that I made 19 years ago, into their own current and high-profile TV documentary series. This fact is not at issue (except that they are attempting to wriggle out of any responsibility for the infringement) but, in addition, they have used my footage like ‘wallpaper’, putting over my pictures a narration that is not merely different to the original but the almost exact antithesis. I should add that the original work in question was a world scoop at the time, that it won the British TV equivalent of the Pulitzer prize, and that is has a certain historical value in its own right. Perhaps I should also add that in addition to personally taking the pictures and recording the sound, I also wrote and narrated the original commentary.

So, my question is: do I have any ‘moral rights’ in this matter? Can I insist that my pictures -- even when the sequences have been visually re-edited or re-ordered -- are used in such a manner that the original ‘editorial line’ is not distorted by the new narration or, as in this case, completely reversed.

In addition to my own copyright material, they have done the same thing -- in terms of editorial content -- to another film that I made which, although not my copyright (i.e. it was a work for hire), was also made entirely by me, and which has my personal stamp all over it. Do I have any rights in this latter case?

And another thing: whilst giving me the runaround for a month now on the ‘no-brainer’ issue of infringement, they are continuing to sell their series both in the US and around the world, even though I have asked them in writing to stop -- four times. Any comments on this as well?

P.S: Since this is an ongoing dispute, I prefer to remain anonymous. Hope y'’all do'n’t mind.

Anon
<wpplanes[_at_]flashnet.co.za> Received on Thu Jul 15 1999 - 13:29:33 GMT